[Bug]: Buf linter reports incorrect source line numbers

[sallustfire]

What happened?

The reported line numbers from running the buf_lint_aspect are always <souce_path>:1:1<messaage>, which adds friction to resolving lint errors especially when the source file is large.

Version

Development (host) and target OS/architectures:

Output of bazel --version: 7.1.1

Version of the Aspect rules, or other relevant rules from your
WORKSPACE or MODULE.bazel file: HEAD

How to reproduce

This can be reproduced with the file.proto source in example/

Via aspect:

bazel build --aspects=//tools/lint:linters.bzl%buf --@aspect_rules_lint//lint:fail_on_violation --output_groups=rules_lint_report //src:foo_proto
INFO: Analyzed target //src:foo_proto (0 packages loaded, 0 targets configured).

Use --sandbox_debug to see verbose messages from the sandbox and retain the sandbox build root for debugging
--buf-plugin_out: src/file.proto:1:1:Import "src/unused.proto" is unused.
Aspect //tools/lint:linters.bzl%buf of //src:foo_proto failed to build
Use --verbose_failures to see the command lines of failed build steps.
INFO: Elapsed time: 0.168s, Critical Path: 0.03s
INFO: 2 processes: 2 internal.
ERROR: Build did NOT complete successfully

Via buf cli

bazel run @rules_buf_toolchains//:buf -- lint --config=buf.yaml src/file.proto
WARNING: Build option --@@aspect_rules_lint~//lint:fail_on_violation has changed, discarding analysis cache (this can be expensive, see https://bazel.build/advanced/performance/iteration-speed).
INFO: Analyzed target @@rules_buf~~buf~rules_buf_toolchains//:buf (0 packages loaded, 1 target configured).
INFO: Found 1 target...
INFO: Elapsed time: 0.224s, Critical Path: 0.00s
INFO: 1 process: 1 internal.
INFO: Build completed successfully, 1 total action
INFO: Running command line: /home/.cache/bazel/_bazel/d387874fc4e6234b1e2f92e13a10d0a3/external/rules_buf~~buf~rules_buf_toolchains/buf lint '--config=buf.yaml' src/file.proto
src/file.proto:3:1:Import "src/unused.proto" is unused.

As a sanity check aspect lint produces the same output:

aspect lint //src:foo_proto
INFO: Analyzed target //src:foo_proto (232 packages loaded, 9814 targets configured).
INFO: Found 1 target...
Aspect //tools/lint:linters.bzl%buf of //src:foo_proto up-to-date:
  bazel-bin/src/foo_proto.AspectRulesLintBuf.report
  bazel-bin/src/foo_proto.AspectRulesLintBuf.report.exit_code
INFO: Elapsed time: 4.369s, Critical Path: 0.03s
INFO: 2 processes: 1 internal, 1 linux-sandbox.
INFO: Build completed successfully, 2 total actions
Lint results for //src:foo_proto:

--buf-plugin_out: src/file.proto:1:1:Import "src/unused.proto" is unused.

Any other information?

I haven't more than glanced at the source code, but I believe this is a problem with the protoc plugin protoc-gen-but-lint and not rules_lint. The buf cli is a go program that lints the sources directly and not as a protoc plugin. It may be the case that using the protoc plugin also introduces subtle differences in the DX if IDE plugins are integrating with the buf cli directly.

[sallustfire]

@alexeagle Here's what I see, and I saw the same problem with rules_proto_grpc and their buf lint integration in the past. That makes me thing it's a general problem with the protoc plugin, but I don't know how to square that with the smoke test you performed the other day.

[alexeagle]

To your earlier point, I do think switching to call buf lint instead of protoc --plugin=some-buf-thing is likely more correct and easier to reproduce or get help from the Buf team. Worth investigation.